Laravel example project on PhpStorm is not compileable - laravel

Question

I am very new to using Frameworks/Laravel and I haven't achieved to run the Laravel welcome website in PhpStorm yet.
Steps I've done so far:
I have created a new "Composer Project" with PhpStorm and chose Laravel as Package.
I installed the IDE helper in line with this tutorial: http://blog.jetbrains.com/phpstorm/2015/01/laravel-development-using-phpstorm/
I installed XAMPP and started the Apache server on port 8000
Changed the PhpStorm Settings -> Language & Frameworks -> PHP -> Interpreter -> Path to php.exe inside of XAMPP
I tried to watch the results in a browser by clicking "Run". A PHP fatal error appeared in the debugger which said the class TestCase couldn't be found.
After googling I added the phpunit.xml as an alternative configuration file for my Run/Debug configurations. Furthermore I read that I need to add the "tests" folder inside of my project directory as "Directory Test Scope" there.
The debugger says "All Tests passed", but I am receiving a different fatal error which I wasn't able to solve until now:
Fatal error: Call to undefined method
PHPUnit_Framework_TestResult::deprecatedFeaturesCount() in
C:\xampp\php\pear\PHPUnit\TextUI\ResultPrinter.php on line 446
Fatal error: Uncaught exception
'Illuminate\Contracts\Container\BindingResolutionException' with
message 'Target [Illuminate\Contracts\Debug\ExceptionHandler] is not
instantiable.' in C:\Users\kentor\PhpstormProjects\test
Laravel\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Container\Container.php:752
Stack trace:
0 C:\Users\kentor\PhpstormProjects\test Laravel\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Container\Container.php(633):
Illuminate\Container\Container->build('Illuminate\Cont...', Array)
#1 C:\Users\kentor\PhpstormProjects\test Laravel\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Foundation\Application.php(697):
Illuminate\Container\Container->make('Illuminate\Cont...', Array)
#2 C:\Users\kentor\PhpstormProjects\test Laravel\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Foundation\Bootstrap\HandleExceptions.php(154):
Illuminate\Foundation\Application->make('Illuminate\Cont...')
#3 C:\Users\kentor\PhpstormProjects\test Laravel\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Foundation\Bootstrap\HandleExceptions.php(79):
in C:\Users\kentor\PhpstormProjects\test
Laravel\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Container\Container.php
on line 752 PHP
Fatal error: Call to undefined method
PHPUnit_Framework_TestResult::deprecatedFeaturesCount() in
C:\xampp\php\pear\PHPUnit\TextUI\ResultPrinter.php on line 446 PHP
Fatal error: Uncaught exception
'Illuminate\Contracts\Container\BindingResolutionException' with
message 'Target [Illuminate\Contracts\Debug\ExceptionHandler] is not
instantiable.' in C:\Users\kentor\PhpstormProjects\test
Laravel\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Container\Container.php:752
Stack trace:
#0 C:\Users\kentor\PhpstormProjects\test Laravel\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Container\Container.php(633):
Illuminate\Container\Container->build('Illuminate\Cont...', Array)
#1 C:\Users\kentor\PhpstormProjects\test Laravel\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Foundation\Application.php(697):
Illuminate\Container\Container->make('Illuminate\Cont...', Array)
#2 C:\Users\kentor\PhpstormProjects\test Laravel\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Foundation\Bootstrap\HandleExceptions.php(154):
Illuminate\Foundation\Application->make('Illuminate\Cont...')
#3 C:\Users\kentor\PhpstormProjects\test Laravel\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Foundation\Bootstrap\HandleExceptions.php(79):
in C:\Users\kentor\PhpstormProjects\test
Laravel\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Container\Container.php
on line 752
Process finished with exit code 255
So in the end I want to see the contents of my "Public" folder.
My questions:
Why did I need to specify the "tests" folder? Is this used for verifying that PHP is compiling correctly or any similar testing stuff?
What did I miss in order to see my Laravel example page in the end?